Recently I came across two interesting news items on prison reforms. Governments worldwide spent a fortune on prison maintenance, yet generally the results are unsatisfactory. The two news items below, one from Norway, called the Eco-Prison and the other from Philippines called the Dancing prison are great examples of Creative Public Governance. More governments should explore such innovations in their prison reforms.
The world's first ecological prison
The minimum-security Bastoey Prison on a lush island, where inmates include murderers and rapists prison, operates with solar panels, wood-fire heating instead of oil, strict recycling and eco-friendly food production. There are no locked gates or barbed wire. This innovative project aims to help the 115 prisoners learn values such as protecting the environment and respecting others.
The prisoners live in unlocked houses, in and are responsible for the care of about 200 chickens, eight horses, 40 sheep and 20 cows. They also tend the fields, pick berries and fish on the prison supplied boat.
All of the prison's agricultural products are raised organically without fertilizers or pesticides. It strives to be energy self-sufficient, using renewable power.
The inmates are happy with their freedom living in an environment that gives them individual responsibility . It is effective as the system motivates them to reform their behavior . Those who misbehaved, which is rare, will be sent back to maximum security prisons.
This is a fantastic model for prison officials to experiment on. One benefit is that the Bastoey Prison has the lowest maintenance cost since very little is spent on security.
Cebu’s dancing prison
The champion of the prison reform in Cebu is Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. Garcia is the first woman governor in Cebu in 400 years. Beautiful and elegant, she was voted as one of best dressed ladies in the Philippines. Beneath her soft exterior, however, she is a tough woman. First, she fired dozens of jail guards for corruption, installed an enhanced security system, broke up gangs, banned guns and the use of cash and enforced an exercise regime that in the past year evolved into dance routines. 70 percent of the prison's inmates were convicted of serious crimes like murder, rape and narcotics trafficking.
The dances are choreographed by a professional choreographer. The footage of the dance by more than 1,500 prisoners to Michael Jackson song "Thriller." had been uploaded on YouTube. It has been viewed more than 10 million times and became one of the most popular clips ever on the video-sharing Web site.
This unique experiment has already proven to be a rehabilitation program. The documentary maker "Dancing for Discipline," commented that the inmates have the biggest smiles. The system restores the inmates sense of self-esteem .
Comment
If serious criminals can be rehabilitated using such “soft” approaches, how about other prisoners of lesser crimes? It is high time that governments adopt a more unconventional approach to prison rehabilitation.
Talk on Creative Governance
Please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite me to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.
I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
Global Forum on Reinventing Government
The United Nations took an active interest in Creative Public Governance by hosting for the first time in partnership with the Austrian Government, the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government from 26 to 29 June 2007 at UN Headquarters in Vienna.
The theme of this conference is "Building Trust in Government." The conference also aimed to promote better international and regional cooperation, while giving government officials an opportunity to exchange good practices and experiences. Participating in the Forum were Heads of State, prime ministers, ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, experts, CEOs, representatives of international organizations and civil society organizations.
I’ll highlight the innovations achieved by the 2007 United Nations Public Service Awards Winners in my subsequent blogs. They are great examples for governments at all levels to study and perhaps use as a template for introducing innovations into the public service.
It is very important for governments who are keen to improve their administration to take note of the conclusions reached at the conference.
Below is a shortened version of the Vienna Declaration. It consist of conclusions and key areas of consensus that emerged from the 7th Global Forum discussions.
Vienna Declaration
Recommendations: Ways To Build Trust In Government
1. Secure Legitimacy of Government – To strengthen the confidence of citizens in their governments, the state must be and be seen to be legitimate, fair and institutionally strong.
2. Prioritize Service Delivery and Access – Public sector performance creates trust in government by delivering “public value” via reliable public services that not only address market failures, but produce value by creating equity, equality and social capital.
3. Increase Transparency and Accountability to Combat Corruption – We recognize that corruption is one of the greatest challenges facing the world. Corruption involving officials from the private and public sectors is a grave and corrosive abuse of power.
4. Improve Access to ICTs – E-government has tremendous potential to improve transparency,foster greater citizen engagement and participation in the policy process, and improve the quality of policy decisions and their implementation.
5. Support Effective Civil Society Engagement - Civil society must be empowered to participate as a full partner in governance in order for trust to thrive in government institutions.
6. Engage the Constructive Interest of a Free Media – Because a vital part of maintaining trust depends on public perceptions, true or false, the role of the media in creating these perceptions has greatly increased with the information revolution.
7. Bring Government Closer to People – Local governance is one of the most effective ways of bridging the gaps between citizens, political representatives, and public administrators.
8. Enable Public-Private Partnerships – Effective public-private partnerships can improve the design and implementation of development programmes by capitalizing on the respective strengths and resources of each partner.
9. Promote Innovations in Public Sector Reform –The ability of governments to earn the trust of their populations depends on the degree to which they are able to strengthen state capacities. That means, for example, strengthening the accountability for results by guaranteeing adequate competencies for both raising and allocating revenues. To facilitate this process, we recommend that governments employ incentive-based strategies which reward public sector employees who successfully introduce innovations that improve public service. Innovation should focus on enhancing public value.
10. Rebuild Trust in Crisis and Post-Conflict Countries – The interplay of social and political trust is even more crucial for crisis and post-conflict countries.
Follow-Up Measures
1. We urge international development partners, including bilateral donors and the United Nations,
to increase support to developing countries to strengthen their capacity in public administration and governance.
2. We also urge concrete follow-up to the 7th Global Forum. In particular, we recommend, inter
alia, that the following measures be taken:
a. support a global network of innovators to share ideas and experiences, and act as an observatory;
b. support regional and global level governance centers to document and share good ideas;
c. support regional forums to formulate regional cooperation strategies to improve public administration and governance;
d. promote North-South and South-South cooperation and dialogue;
e. encourage country anchored pilot projects to test alternative methodologies and approaches to promote and strengthen effective and democratic governance;
f. focus at least one category of the UN Public Service Award on projects which
contribute to strengthening citizen’s trust in government; and
g. commission concept papers to develop a framework of principles to underpin trust in government.
3. In addition and in parallel to the global network of innovators, we also urge organization of ministerial round tables to meet periodically to review their experiences in dealing with selected issues of trust, and make recommendations. We also recommend similar meetings at regional and national levels for local administrators. Finally, round tables of parliamentarians are also recommended to share innovative practices and institutional designs.
Talk on Creative Governance
Please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite me to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.
I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net
The theme of this conference is "Building Trust in Government." The conference also aimed to promote better international and regional cooperation, while giving government officials an opportunity to exchange good practices and experiences. Participating in the Forum were Heads of State, prime ministers, ministers, parliamentarians, government officials, experts, CEOs, representatives of international organizations and civil society organizations.
I’ll highlight the innovations achieved by the 2007 United Nations Public Service Awards Winners in my subsequent blogs. They are great examples for governments at all levels to study and perhaps use as a template for introducing innovations into the public service.
It is very important for governments who are keen to improve their administration to take note of the conclusions reached at the conference.
Below is a shortened version of the Vienna Declaration. It consist of conclusions and key areas of consensus that emerged from the 7th Global Forum discussions.
Vienna Declaration
Recommendations: Ways To Build Trust In Government
1. Secure Legitimacy of Government – To strengthen the confidence of citizens in their governments, the state must be and be seen to be legitimate, fair and institutionally strong.
2. Prioritize Service Delivery and Access – Public sector performance creates trust in government by delivering “public value” via reliable public services that not only address market failures, but produce value by creating equity, equality and social capital.
3. Increase Transparency and Accountability to Combat Corruption – We recognize that corruption is one of the greatest challenges facing the world. Corruption involving officials from the private and public sectors is a grave and corrosive abuse of power.
4. Improve Access to ICTs – E-government has tremendous potential to improve transparency,foster greater citizen engagement and participation in the policy process, and improve the quality of policy decisions and their implementation.
5. Support Effective Civil Society Engagement - Civil society must be empowered to participate as a full partner in governance in order for trust to thrive in government institutions.
6. Engage the Constructive Interest of a Free Media – Because a vital part of maintaining trust depends on public perceptions, true or false, the role of the media in creating these perceptions has greatly increased with the information revolution.
7. Bring Government Closer to People – Local governance is one of the most effective ways of bridging the gaps between citizens, political representatives, and public administrators.
8. Enable Public-Private Partnerships – Effective public-private partnerships can improve the design and implementation of development programmes by capitalizing on the respective strengths and resources of each partner.
9. Promote Innovations in Public Sector Reform –The ability of governments to earn the trust of their populations depends on the degree to which they are able to strengthen state capacities. That means, for example, strengthening the accountability for results by guaranteeing adequate competencies for both raising and allocating revenues. To facilitate this process, we recommend that governments employ incentive-based strategies which reward public sector employees who successfully introduce innovations that improve public service. Innovation should focus on enhancing public value.
10. Rebuild Trust in Crisis and Post-Conflict Countries – The interplay of social and political trust is even more crucial for crisis and post-conflict countries.
Follow-Up Measures
1. We urge international development partners, including bilateral donors and the United Nations,
to increase support to developing countries to strengthen their capacity in public administration and governance.
2. We also urge concrete follow-up to the 7th Global Forum. In particular, we recommend, inter
alia, that the following measures be taken:
a. support a global network of innovators to share ideas and experiences, and act as an observatory;
b. support regional and global level governance centers to document and share good ideas;
c. support regional forums to formulate regional cooperation strategies to improve public administration and governance;
d. promote North-South and South-South cooperation and dialogue;
e. encourage country anchored pilot projects to test alternative methodologies and approaches to promote and strengthen effective and democratic governance;
f. focus at least one category of the UN Public Service Award on projects which
contribute to strengthening citizen’s trust in government; and
g. commission concept papers to develop a framework of principles to underpin trust in government.
3. In addition and in parallel to the global network of innovators, we also urge organization of ministerial round tables to meet periodically to review their experiences in dealing with selected issues of trust, and make recommendations. We also recommend similar meetings at regional and national levels for local administrators. Finally, round tables of parliamentarians are also recommended to share innovative practices and institutional designs.
Talk on Creative Governance
Please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net if you want to invite me to present an illuminating one hour Talk on Creative Governance and thereafter to facilitate a session to help solve a prevailing public and social problem in the spirit of Creative Governance.
I would appreciate if you could share Creative Governance stories with me so that they could be featured here. Please forward your response and contributions to DrYKK@mindbloom.net
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
